Downloadable are official statements from American Nuclear Society and Nuclear Energy Institute. Picture on the right side is the BWR 3 (with MARK 1 containment structure) diagram, as well as the diagram with multiple layers of safety at NPPs.

It must be understood that the tragedy in Japan can be considered as an incredibly rare “worst case” disaster scenario where multiple catastrophic natural events happened simultaneously.

Thus far, even the most seriously damaged of Japan's 54 reactors has not released radiation at levels that would harm the public. That is a testament to their design and construction, and the effectiveness of their employees and their emergency preparedness planning. We are also seeing rapidly increasing numbers of deaths (might go to 10,000 or above) due to the destructive power of 9.0 magnitude earthquake and close to 10 m tsunami. Not a single of those deaths could be attributed to radiation.

The nuclear industry in the U.S. sets the highest standards for safety. Also, the nuclear industry around the world shares information about all events and situations, and are focused on continuous learning and incorporation of lessons learned and experiences from other NPPs in the world. The possible loss-of-coolant scenarios are studied continuously and safety measures in all NPPs are upgraded continuously.

Also, since September 11, 2001, additional safeguards and training have been put in place at all US nuclear reactors which allow plant operators to continuously cool the reactor core during an extended power outage and/or failure of backup generators.